Women have been experiencing this kind of objectification for centuries. Berger says “In the art form of the European nude painters and spectator-owners were usually men and the persons treated as objects, usually women. This unusual relationship is embedded in our culture that it still structures the consciousness of many women . They do to themselves what men do to them. They survey, like men, their own femininity(Berger 47)”. For women this can affect how they choose to embody their experience. Which means that many women can live their lives through the lens of the male gaze. By doing so they restrict their potential and the image that is acceptable to the world. This creates a form of respectability politics which can consume one's identity and re-create the false image that the male gaze requires. For many women this means changing their bodies and how they dress. This also can look like women shaming themselves or other women for their sexual activities. Shame such as this can be seen deeper than just the male gaze. Shame based politics can be seen as a result of the underlying system of “Patriarchy”.
In Bell Hooks Understanding Patriarchy” Hooks defines patriarchy as the “single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation”. (Hooks) Patriarchy can explain the toxicity that allows masculinity to define the roles that women are suggested to play in life. While it can also explain the body images that we find acceptable and beautiful. Patriarchy has become and intergenerational problem. Each generation experiences a new form of patriarchal dominance. For the early 50’-70’s we see respectability politics dominating the conversation about women. Throughout that time period women struggled with their images in a male dominated society. While also finding ways to internalize the patriarchy that had been woven into their everyday lives. Many women submitted to the stereotypes of housewives. Promoting and maintaining the sense of femininity in context of production. For women production was based on their reproductive value. While men had the opportunity to reproduce through their labor. While this generation is heavily influenced with the standards of the media. Media has the ability to control the perception of representation. In the status quo media tells women that their body has to look a certain way to be valuable and worthy of the attention of a man. And for those who do perform to those standards they are rewarded through social medias persuasive powers of fake fame. When women cannot meet those standards they are given the option to do so with painful surgeries and adjustments. With these tools available the false bodies are replicated over and over again ensuring that this image is the dominant narrative of what women should look like.
Mickalene Thomas, A Little Taste Outside of Love, 2007
My experience as a plus size black woman makes me a perfect model for a body set in opposition to the male gaze. My body defies what society places on a pedestal of beauty. For many who look like me this does have an affect on how I experience life. I can be viewed as not approachable because my image lacks certain feminine characteristics. It is also easier to identify me as aggressive when I appear too opinionated because I do not fit into what the world views as a calm or acceptable image. Many black women are forced to deal with this experience throughout their lives but have found their own ways to navigate through patriarchy. By reclaiming their bodies.
Work cited:
1. Berger, John. Ways of Seeing; a Book Made by John Berger. British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin Books, 1972.
2. Hooks, bell. The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love. Simon & Schuster, 2005.
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